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Celtic were left to rue Barry Robson's first-half penalty miss as they stuttered to a disappointing 0-0 draw with Champions League newcomers Aalborg in their Group E opener.

Gordon Strachan's men dominated possession against the Danish champions, but lacked a cutting edge in front of goal and wasted their best opportunity to secure all three points when Robson struck his spot-kick straight at Karim Zaza in the Aalborg goal.

It was a night that began with high expectations for the home side, who have reached the last-16 of Europe's premier competition for two years running, and returned Shunsuke Nakamura to the line-up to increase attacking options.

But Bruce Rioch's visitors were far better than their league form this season would suggest, and held on bravely for arguably the biggest result in club's history - despite being reduced to 10 men in the closing stages after Georgios Samaras was tripped running through on goal.

In a moment reminiscent of Graham Poll's famous blunder at the 2006 World Cup, however, referee Luca Maggiani sent off the wrong player - punishing the wholly innocent Michael Beauchamp when the perpetrator was in truth Michael Jakobsen. The Italian is surely unlikely to oversee further Champions League matches this season.

Celtic started the match brightly, with Samaras and Nakamura linking well and Scott McDonald buzzing effectively in midfield. Despite their territorial advantage they struggled to find the final ball.

Fifteen minutes in the unfancied visitors almost grabbed a breakaway goal against the run of play, when Thomas Augustinussen found Jeppe Curth with a sublime through-ball. The striker managed to get a shot away, but it slipped just wide.

On the half-hour mark Celtic finally had an opportunity to convert their superiority into goals, when Shaun Maloney drew a trip from Steve Olfers by virtue of a neat drag-back just inside the box.

Zaza was on hand to deny Robson from 12 yards, however, and his heroics served to invigorate the visitors and instill the belief they could compete on a level footing with the Scottish champions.

With the second half came changes from Strachan. Aiden McCready and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink were both introduced and the game became increasingly stretched.

On 77 minutes, Samaras linked up superbly with Nakamura and Celtic finally had the ball in the Aalborg net - only to be denied by a tight offside decision, which on reflection was proved to be correct.

Soon after Samaras was felled by the incredibly fortunate Jakobsen, and Nakamura stepped up to send a curling free-kick heading for the top-right corner from 25 yards, only to see Zaza dive acrobatically to pull off another fine stop.

As the clock ran down, and the discontented hoards left in their droves from the stadium, Celtic tried without success to find a late breakthrough.

The final whistle saw the home side met with whistles and boos, and with Villarreal and Manchester United to come, Celtic will need to improve dramatically if they are to make to the knock-out stages for the third year in succession.

Will Tidey / Eurosport